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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 2-21: Passenger Car Occupant Safety Data

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Table 2-21: Passenger Car Occupant Safety Data

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  1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Fatalities 25,929 27,449 23,212 24,092 22,385 21,387 21,566 21,997 22,423 22,505 22,199 21,194 R20,862 20,492
Injured persons N N N 2,376,000 2,235,000 2,232,000 2,265,000 2,364,000 2,469,000 2,458,000 2,341,000 2,201,000 R2,138,000 2,052,000
Crashes N N N R5,561,000 5,178,000 R5,042,000 R5,040,000 R5,401,000 R5,594,000 5,599,000 R5,423,000 5,146,000 R4,916,000 4,926,000
Vehicle-miles (billions) 1,030 1,107 1,249 1,427 1,412 1,436 1,445 1,459 1,478 1,499 1,528 1,556 R1,567 1,582
Rates per 100 million vehicle-miles                            
Fatalities 2.5 2.5 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 R1.5 1.4 1.3 1.3
Injured persons N N N 167 158 155 157 162 167 164 153 141 136 130
Crashes N N N 390 367 351 349 370 R378 373 R355 R331 R314 311

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised.

NOTES: The injury and crash data in this table are from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) General Estimates System (GES). The data from GES, which began operation in 1988, are obtained from a nationally representative probability sample selected from all police-reported crashes. The GES sample includes only crashes where a police accident report was completed and the crash resulted in property damage, injury, or death. The resulting figures do not take into account crashes that were not reported to the police or that did not result in property damage. The 1993 National Transportation Statistics (NTS) Historical Compendium and earlier editions illustrated crashes and injury figures estimated by the National Safety Council, which used a different set of methods to arrive at its figures. Thus, the injury and crash figures in this edition of NTS may not be comparable with those found in the Compendium and earlier editions.

USDOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics rounded vehicle-miles to the nearest billion.

Vehicle-miles in this table and in table 2-23 are taken from NHTSA revised data and are not based exclusively on USDOT, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) data. The change was made to reflect the different vehicle classification schemes used by FHWA. and NHTSA. Thus, vehicle-miles for passenger cars, and light and large trucks in this table and table 2-23 should not be compared with vehicle-miles in chapter 1, which are taken directly from FHWA.

SOURCES:

Fatalities, injuries, vehicle miles, fatality and injury rates:

U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts 1999, DOT HS 809 100(Washington, DC: October 2000), table 7 and personal communication, Nov. 28, 2001.

Crashes:

U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Database and General Estimates System Database, personal communication, Dec. 18, 2001.

Crash rates:

Calculated by U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics by dividing the number of crashes by the vehicle-miles traveled.